Labels
by KitKat-Pyrophobia
Summary: It was in pure innocence that Al and Scorpius decided to label each other "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" when they were in First Year. Scorpius/Al oneshot


**Disclaimer:** *heavy sigh

**A/N:** Yet another result of me staying up until three in the morning and _then_ deciding that I want to write something.

It's actually quite different from anything else I've written in the way that it's actually done… the style and whatnot. I figured when I started writing like that that I'd end up either loving it or hating it. And since I refuse to post anything online that I hate, it think it's clear that I actually like it :) I think it's pretty cute. The whole bromance-turns-to-romance thing… I love when that happens :D And also, they're cute and innocent and that's one of my weaknesses XD

Anyway, please enjoy!

* * *

><p>Al became Scorpius's girlfriend when he was eleven years old.<p>

The two had become fast friends after being Sorted into the same house, both sharing many similarities and interests, and both incredibly intimidated and bewildered by their new school. There were so many _people _all of a sudden, and it meant something big for Al Potter ("Please, not Albus Severus, not Albus, not 'hey, it's Harry Potter's son!'… Just Al.") to be overwhelmed by tons of people, because the Potter/Weasley clan was multiplying by the minute it seemed, and Christmases at the Burrow were definitely a battle zone.

But Hogwarts was different. Hogwarts was full of people who _weren't _related to him.

Hogwarts was full of… girls.

And yes, Al and Scorpius took full notice of them. Their pigtails and blushing cheeks and bright eyes… they were so pretty and cute and the pair found themselves stuttering and flushing and turning into puddles of embarrassment every time one was around.

But still, they knew fully well from seeing Al's older brother James go through it plenty over the years that once a boy got a girlfriend, it meant that they stopped spending so much time with their best friend. Because apparently girlfriends were a lot better than being just best friends. Or at least, that's what they saw.

They weren't entirely okay with that. There was a _reason_, after all, that they were best friends. They liked to keep each other around, liked to play Quidditch and Exploding Snap and trade Chocolate Frog Cards and attempt to learn to play chess—it really was harder than it looked—and laugh and joke around and roughhouse just like any other pair of best friends. They were best friends _forever_, and they didn't see 'forever' expiring anytime soon… Unless one of them got a girlfriend.

So, as a solution to that problem, they made a deal.

Al grimaced, watching James across the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table with a girl wrapped around him, his friends further down on the bench, forgotten. "It'll be lame when you get a girlfriend and ignore me." He said plainly, because he knew he could be frank with Scorpius.

Scorpius looked contemplative. His chubby cheeks puffed out in thought, and it wasn't until he reached out for his goblet of pumpkin juice that an idea struck him and he almost spit the liquid right back out. "Then why don't you just be my girlfriend?"

The young Potter wrinkled his nose. "I'm a boy. I can't be your girlfriend."

"But if _you _were my girlfriend, then neither of us would have to worry about ignoring each other for our girlfriends, because _you'll _be the one I'm ignoring you for!" Scorpius spoke in quick succession, making it hard to understand—not that it made much sense in the first place—slate gray eyes lighting up.

Al soaked in the words, his brow furrowing as a small hand came to his chin. He nodded slowly. "I see what you're saying."

"So, will it work? Will you be my girlfriend?" His raspy, childlike voice was full to the brim with excitement.

Neither of the First Years even noticed the few odd stares they were attracting from the Slytherin upperclassmen at their decidedly _weird _conversation.

He still pouted. "Why do _I _have to be the girlfriend?"

"Well I'm taller, so I have to be the boyfriend."

The logic was undeniable. The issue was settled just like that.

* * *

><p>Scorpius broke up with Al when they were fourteen.<p>

Over the years, they'd both realized how strange it was that they continued to call themselves boyfriend and girlfriend, but secretly enjoyed the awkward stares and whispers around them, because even though they were completely serious about it when they were eleven, it was more of an inside joke as they matured. Of course, they never _acted _like a couple, and never even referred to themselves as an actual "couple" with that word specifically, only introduced each other to new people as "my boyfriend" or "my girlfriend", respectively. They stayed best friends. The label that'd been there since the beginning didn't make either boy uncomfortable or awkward around each other; they knew that it was spawned out of innocence and only stuck because of their own personal enjoyment. Though it didn't necessarily mean the usual definition of what anyone would usually think of a "boyfriend and girlfriend" type situation, it still meant something special to them. As they grew older and more mature and so did the girls around them, it meant that they weren't going to start ignoring each other for one of the girls. It meant that they were going to be best friends and each other's priority as long as they continued with the little joke.

So, of course, it meant something equally important when Scorpius first brought it up as being something abnormal. The Malfoy had fancied the girl who sat next to him in Charms for as long as they could really even recall, and for the first time, he got the gall to actually talk to her.

Naturally—and though he knew consciously that he was being a total girl about it, because guys usually didn't even care about each other's relationship specifics—Al demanded to know everything that happened. This was a monumental day for his best friend.

Scorpius looked everywhere but Al's face (now thinner and more refined than when they'd met, with a "pretty" sort of feminine charm instead of a masculine one), fiddling with his hands.

"Come on, just tell me. You don't have to be weird about it." Al poked him on the shoulder with his forefinger before wrapping his arm back around his drawn-up knees on the couch in the Common Room.

The blond ran a hand through already pushed-back hair and sighed. "She said it was weird that you call yourself my girlfriend,"

Al's brows knitted together. He'd honestly never thought of the fact that people would find their little joke unusual enough to be put off by it. He didn't like that at all. "So what?"

"So, I like her." Scorpius spoke as if it explained everything, still avoiding Al's bright green eyes, "And if she doesn't like that you're my 'girlfriend', then maybe… you shouldn't be."

He snorted. "Are you breaking up with me?"

He laughed good-naturedly. "I guess… I kind of am." He shook his head, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. "This is so weird."

Al grinned. "We're still going to be friends though, aren't we?"

The use of cliché lines was making it hard for Scorpius to hold back laughter. Really, this was a serious conversation. "Of course. You're still my best friend. I'm just… not going to call you my girlfriend anymore."

"I feel replaced." He just barely stopped himself from resorting to his trademark pout.

"I'm sorry." Scorpius seemed genuine.

He sighed, feeling guilty that he was making Scorpius feel guilty. He understood that Scorpius just wanted to make this girl like him, but he didn't appreciate the fact that breaking away from the stability and hidden meaning of their labels meant they were becoming like every other pair of best friends at the school. So, ever-unafraid to hold any of his thoughts back when he was around Scorpius, he spoke his mind. "I feel like… the _reason _I became your girlfriend is coming up again."

The blond was confused. "What do you mean?"

"You like her a lot." He explained.

He nodded. "I do."

"So, you're going to want to be around her more, aren't you?"

"I… guess?"

"Never mind," He sighed, seeing the conversation going nowhere even with his hinting.

"No, tell me."

"It's fine, really."

"Al…"

"Scorpius, just leave it," He shook his head.

"We're still best friends, Al." He said reassuringly, placing a hand on his knee.

The Potter looked down at the hand, trying to keep his answering smile from being too sad. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

><p>Al and Scorpius "got back together" when they were fifteen.<p>

Scorpius's "breakup" with Al was all that it took for the girl to like Scorpius back, and their relationship had actually lasted quite successfully for an entire year before the spark had died off enough to call it quits. In the meantime, the distance that came with the friend-romantic relationship dilemma was less apparent than Al thought it would be. Scorpius kept both relationships well-balanced, even though he did have to keep them separate. For whatever reason, the girl had never liked Al, but that didn't bother the indifferent Potter much. (Months later, Scorpius would tell Al that that was a big reason that they cut it off in the end.)

Al never found anyone in the time that Scorpius was with her. And it wasn't that he wasn't looking, necessarily, because he was, and plenty of people caught his eye… His main problem was that the ones that caught his eye were male. For the first time, Al was afraid to tell Scorpius something about himself, and Scorpius noticed his odd behavior quite early on after his breakup from the girl.

"So," The blond joked, nudging Al's shoulder in the Quidditch locker room after practice, "If I broke up with her, does that mean that we're back together."

Al looked up at him with a grin that read as too many things to make sense of. A big part in it, however, was mischievousness. He shot up from his reclined position on the bench, hands on his hips. "You expect me to just accept you when you come crawling back?"

Scorpius pulled a fresh shirt over his head, smiling as well as he went along with the joke. "Just give me another chance, Al. I won't leave you again, I promise."

Al waved his hand in dismissal. "I don't want to be your rebound."

"You're not my rebound." Scorpius stood as well, now towering over Al (not that it was too much of an accomplishment, as Al didn't seem to have grown since he was eleven), "You're my one and only." He tilted his chin up with his first two fingers.

The Potter's lips twitched with the effort not to laugh. He pointedly ignored the knots twisting in his stomach.

It didn't hold up well in the end. They both burst into rib-splitting laughter, Al pushing Scorpius into the locker rather roughly, because he had a habit of laughing enthusiastically with his entire body.

It wasn't until they were walking back to the castle with carefree smiles still laid out on their faces that Scorpius brought it up once more. "So… you are my girlfriend again, aren't you?"

Al laughed. "You do realize we're almost sixteen, and it should be really freaking weird for you to be asking that, right?"

"Well, you know what I mean." Scorpius rolled his eyes indignantly.

"Yeah, I'm your girlfriend again."

"Good." Scorpius beamed.

* * *

><p>Al got a boyfriend for the first time when he was sixteen.<p>

The boy was nice and handsome and willing to accept that Scorpius, his "boyfriend", was still the most important male in Al's life. Somewhere underneath the infatuated handholding and sweet kisses and adorable cuddling, Al was sure that his boyfriend knew that the person Al really liked was Scorpius. It'd been that way since he broke up with his girlfriend, and even though he just thought it was his hormones and too much time spent wrestling around and play-fighting in the locker room when too much of their skin was exposed and brushing against each other, but it didn't just stop at physical attraction. Like when they were eleven and made the pact, Al remembered that there was a reason that Scorpius was his best friend. He was everything to be desired in a companion, fully accepting of Al when he'd finally mustered the courage to tell him that he was attracted to the same sex, not to mention that the years and puberty had been good to him, changing him from an awkward, gangly kid to a filled-out, tall, handsome boy with a sharp jaw and pretty gray eyes and perfect pink lips.

He _did _like his boyfriend. He liked how he would hold his hand even when he was sweaty from Quidditch practice, and how he would kiss him and make butterflies beat their wings in his stomach, and how he would smile as if he and Al were the only two in the world. He was more or less the perfect first boyfriend for Al, someone willing to move at his pace and coax him safely into unfamiliar territory. He was someone that was very special to him, but could never quite measure up to someone else, and the thought was constantly nagging at the back of his mind.

And it didn't help that Scorpius made it well-known that he didn't like the guy.

"Are you just jealous? Is that what your problem is?" Al asked exasperatedly after yet another disapproving glance from the Malfoy as Al told him he was going to Hogsmeade with his boyfriend.

Scorpius made an appalled face. "No, I'm not jealous. I just don't like you dating him. You know that."

"Why? What's wrong with him?" _Other than that he's not you_, his mind added, sprinkles of guilt shooting through his stomach as he thought about the fact that his boyfriend knew about his feelings for Scorpius. He curled up further against the arm of the couch, their favorite spot to have their chats. Al couldn't help but notice the way the space between them had diminished over the years, and despite there being three and a half more cushions of space (Al didn't take up much), they sat with Al's drawn-up legs angled just over Scorpius's knees.

The blond kept silent.

"Is it the fact that he's a guy?" Al asked carefully, treading into ever-insecure grounds.

"No, it's not that. You know that I fully support you, whether you go for guys or girls, Al." Scorpius was never dramatic when he said things like that, and Al fully appreciated the way his offhandedness made everything seem less consequential.

"Then what is it? Honestly, Scorpius, there's nothing wrong with him."

He made an odd mumbling sound, avoiding Al's eyes.

He furrowed his brow, straining to listen. "What?"

"He's your boyfriend."

Al deadpanned. "Yes. He is."

"_I'm_ your boyfriend." He grumbled, cheeks burning a bright pink.

Al's face broke into a smile, affection rushing through him at Scorpius's words. He laughed lightly. "And I'm your girlfriend."

His head snapped up toward his best friend. "Really?"

"Is that what this has been about the entire time? Of course I am." He said with a small sentimental smile.

Relief spelled across Scorpius's pale face, lighting up his gray eyes.

Al could only roll his own green eyes and reach up to tug on a piece of Scorpius's slightly-grown platinum hair.

* * *

><p>Al had his first real breakup when he was two months from turning seventeen.<p>

It seemed, by the end of their time, that his boyfriend had become a bit fed up with the fact that Al's feelings for Scorpius always overshadowed his feelings for him, thus leaving the breakup more than just a little bitter. It hurt. It hurt quite a lot, actually, and Al found himself holding back tears more often than he'd ever admit aloud. It wasn't exactly a soul-shattering heartbreak, but it was still dismissal from someone's life when he'd meant a lot to him. He was depressed for weeks, everyone around him noticing but knowing better than to mention his boyfriend so not to make it any worse. Everyone knew that talking about it would only remind him and make him feel bad about it, and were courteous enough to let him handle it on his own.

Everyone, of course, but Scorpius, who did nothing but pry into it. He meddled until Al got irrevocably irritated at times before he realized that the blond's intentions were pure enough. He was just a daft git at times.

"Why did you break up? Was he mean to you or something?" Scorpius asked, hanging off the edge of his bed, head upside-down, usually-pale face turning red from blood rushing to it.

Al shook his head, the simple motion proving to be difficult from his position, which was identical to Scorpius's, only on his own bed.

"Then what happened?"

He bit his lip. "I told you not to worry about it, didn't I? He broke up with me. End of story."

"I want to know _why_, though. Because if it isn't a good reason, I'm not afraid to go kick his arse, Al. You know that. No one hurts my girlfriend and gets away with it."

Somehow the term of endearment only made his heart ache more, because, really, that was the problem within itself. His head was starting to pound, and he had a feeling that it wasn't just because all the blood from his body was slowly collecting in the confines of his skull. "It's fine, Scorpius. If I was dating someone like me, I would have broken up with me, too." He muttered.

Scorpius sat upright quickly enough to startle Al. "Did _you _do something?"

Al sat up as well, rolling his eyes but refusing to meet Scorpius's wide ones. "I didn't _do _anything. It's… more complicated than I'd like to get into."

"Was he… weird about me and you?" He asked cautiously.

"In a way?" He tried to think of words to properly explain, but came up with a blank. "It'd hard to explain, Scorpius. Just leave it alone."

"He knew that we're not… _actually _dating, right?"

That was like a knife straight to Al's gut. Tears sprung into his eyes, and he turned to the side so he could hide them. "Yeah, he knew." His voice was barely above a whisper.

"Well." Scorpius's tone was suddenly changed to one of playfulness, mouth fighting a grin. "I never liked the way you were cheating on me anyway."

He cocked his head to the side, not understanding what he meant.

"_I _at least had the decency to break up with you before I started dating someone else. You, however, just kept leading me on the entire time you were with him."

Al smiled, but couldn't help but notice the note of seriousness in Scorpius's tone. He found himself wondering if any part of this conversation was actually true.

"You should feel bad about that. Just so you know." He teased, pouting.

The Potter laughed. "I feel bad, yeah." He said, playing at Scorpius's same game and saying double-sided words. "I had two boyfriends at once. It was difficult to handle."

"I've never had more than one girlfriend at once. And just to let you know, you're easily the best girlfriend I've ever had." He shyly peeked over at the Potter.

Al grinned.

* * *

><p>Al became Scorpius's boyfriend when he was seventeen.<p>

Surprisingly enough, it was Scorpius who confessed his feelings first, throwing Al into an entirely new dimension of flailing limbs and a racing mind filled with lights and colors and unfamiliar sounds, and he didn't even _know _what was true or what to believe in life anymore, because Scorpius admitting that he liked him kind of turned his world completely upside-down. But of course, once he got over his stage of minor hyperventilation and eyes wild enough to belong in the Forbidden Forest, Al did the only thing he saw fit in his still-unable-to-fully-articulate-English-words state.

He kissed him.

And even though the Earth's axis had just been repaired to the usual twenty-three-point-four degree tilt, it was thrown completely off balance again, because Scorpius kissing him was the most thrilling thing he'd ever felt in his entire life, and he was pretty sure that they'd transported from Scotland to some remote island in the Pacific or something. How? He wasn't exactly sure, but they were wizards. Anything was possible, really, and Al wasn't about to open his eyes or pull his lips from Scorpius's to make sure their feet were still on the ground of the Quidditch field, that they were still in the same reality where they were just two kissing British boys who'd just finished practicing for their game that Saturday.

Scorpius's lips seriously did some strange things to his rational mind.

The blond pulled away first, his hands resting on Al's hips, a goofy sort of smitten smile on his face.

Al just barely stopped himself from asking "Is this real?" for the sake of avoiding an excessively cheesy moment. He'd rather his first kiss with Scorpius be like the rest of the times they'd had together: a bit reckless, a bit overwhelming, a bit unsure, but still just enough of all of those things mixed with pure elation to make the memory of a lifetime.

"Al, I—"

"I've liked you since I was fourteen." Al blurted out, completely unceremonious, making a little voice in the back of his mind sarcastically say, "_Smooth_…"

Scorpius's mouth stretched into a wide, straight-teethed smile that never failed to stop Al's breath for a moment, and he figured that it probably wouldn't be too good for his health in the long run, but he would have loved to just stare at it for hours on end.

"So, this works out for both of us in the end, doesn't it?" He teased.

"But I think that this messes up our entire deal from when we were in First Year, because how am I supposed to be your boyfriend and your girlfriend at the same time when you're going to be ignoring me for _me_?" He was surprised that he was able to string the words together properly. He felt quite ready to ace the NEWTs, the way things were going.

"Boyfriend…" He made a face despite his smile.

Al was offended at his reaction.

"You've always been my girlfriend. I'll have to get used to telling people that."

The Potter rolled his eyes, knowing now that he was just kidding. "You're ridiculous. I can't be your girlfriend and your _girlfriend_. I'm a boy."

He seemed to consider his words, nodding slowly. "I guess you have a point." He paused and grinned. "But I'm still taller."

His logic was undeniable—even though it was mostly completely irrelevant.

"You are." To further demonstrate his agreement with the fact, Al looped his arms around Scorpius's neck and pulled him down for another kiss that made his heart pound and butterflies turn somehow to rabid dragons with the way they heated him from the inside out and beat their wings as if trying to catch flight within the walls of his stomach and his lips tingle and turn up at the corners and make him feel confident in that there was nothing more he could want in a moment.

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><p><strong>AN: **This was all rather abrupt to me… I've gotten into the habit of either writing with a full-out detailed outline of everything that needs to be said and done or writing without any form of outline or direction at all. There's no in-between, and I can't tell yet if that's a good or bad thing… And this, of course, was written with no sense of direction. But I am glad that it wasn't as rip-your-heart-out sad as the last thing I wrote without direction… (*eyes "This Is Enough" with tear-filled eyes)

Sooo I hope that you liked the adorable innocence of this all :D _**Please **_**review** and **favorite**!

Till next time,

_KitKat Pyrophobia_


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